


A Change in Perspective

by raspberrylightning



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternative Perspective, Episode:s1e6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:42:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29986497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raspberrylightning/pseuds/raspberrylightning
Summary: A rewrite of Episode 6, Season 1 "And the Winner is..." from Lin's POV.
Relationships: Lin Beifong & Korra, Lin Beifong & Tenzin, Lin Beifong/Tenzin
Comments: 8
Kudos: 32





	A Change in Perspective

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy this Lin-centred rewrite. I tried to stay close to the episode (so feel free to take this as an opportunity to rewatch it) and just added things that could totally be read between the lines...at least in my opinion :) 
> 
> For those of you that follow my work over here more generally: I am sorry I have been inactive. I am very busy with my real-life job right now so I can only post sporadically...but I am still here and there will be more fanfictions coming your way :)  
> For now, I hope you enjoy the story!

Chief Lin Beifong had enough work to do, without babysitting the council but alas, she once again had to stop the cowards from running from their own shadow. Spirits, this day was becoming more exhausting by the minute.  
“This meeting is adjourne-“. Lin made sure Tarrlok’s gavel didn’t hit the block as her cable cut his stupid ceremonial hammer in half. Of course, they were taking the easy route. Hot anger rose in her as she stepped into the council chamber. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with the avatar.” She stood upright, feeling a little pleased as all those present in the room stared at her with varying levels of confusion. Contrary to popular belief, she had no problem with Korra – not a big one, anyways. Part of her got angry at the sight of the girl because her sheer existence meant Aang wasn’t with them anymore…but then again, that was hardly Korra’s fault. “I expected this kind of cut-and-run response from Tenzin, but the rest of you? Come on, show a little more backbone! It’s time that the benders of this city displayed some strength and unity against these equalists.”  
It _was_ typical for the airbender to give in to the threat immediately – avoid critical situations at all costs. Lin scoffed. In her job, in her _life_ , that attitude would have cost her head more than once. She did not fail to notice Tenzin looking just a little hurt at the slight, which, frankly, just made her more pleased about the decision. Just because he was a coward didn’t mean all of Republic City was willing to behave like one. He had gotten up and was speaking in that calm, measured tone of voice she knew meant that he was boiling inside. Katara’s temper had a way of shining through sometimes. “The council is not changing its position, Lin!”, Tenzin ended his little speech. Tarrlok, an opportunist if there had ever been one, immediately gave into her ideas as she further explained them. “Are you saying that you will _personally_ take responsibility for the spectators in the arena?”  
She anticipated that, should there be any issues, he would try to turn this against her. On more than one occasion, she had spoken up against his often-radical ideas – he would be overjoyed to replace her with someone who would be easier to influence…but she didn’t doubt her ability to protect the arena. The avatar and her friends jumped happily as Tarrlok declared the arena as open. In the corner of her eye, Lin saw Tenzin shake his head. That had never stopped her before, though. “I guarantee it”, she simply said. 

“A word, please, Lin”, he murmured quietly as he walked past her. Even though she had insisted on it more than once, he still refused to call her Chief Beifong. In many ways, it would be ridiculous for him to do so, given the fact that she vividly remembered shoving him around in the sandbox on a daily basis… then again, he had long ago forfeited the right to any kind of intimacy. 

Arms crossed, she followed him into the hallway. As always, she refused to turn towards him and simply let him ramble on, not even trying to pretend she was listening.  
“…and I don’t want to see you get hurt.” For a millisecond, Lin’s treacherous heart jumped at those words. _I don’t want to see you get hurt._ She forced her emotions away immediately, instead retorting: “I know what I am doing and the risks that come with it.” It was pretty rich that after all the successes she’d had as Chief of police, he believed her incapable of defending the arena. He, better than most, knew about her abilities and those of her officers. Amon was just another adversary in a long line of idiots – and every single one had been defeated eventually.  
“In that case, I am going to be by your side during the match.” Once again, anger rose up in Lin. “You don’t need to babysit me”, she said through clenched teeth. As if he would be of any use. She was about to add a sly about him having to look after his offspring, when Tenzin replied: “It’s for Korra. I want to make sure she’s safe.” 

That, arguably, made sense – but she was full of righteous exasperation and not about to let it go, mostly so she didn’t have to face the other emotions that accompanied every single one of their increasingly frequent interactions. “Do what you want! It’s not like I’ve ever been able to stop you before!”, Lin spit out, walking away quickly past the babbling avatar that had just appeared. She still heard bits of conversation, though. “She’s always been…challenging”, Tenzin said. Lin considered turning around and screaming at how at least she faced problems, rather than running away from them, about how he hadn’t found her so challenging before it turned out that she was not willing to give up everything for him – but she decided that it wasn’t worth her time. She had a city to protect. 

She felt him approach long before he appeared behind her. She would have recognised his step anywhere, it was lighter than that of most people, as if he was always just a second from floating. The well-adjusted part of her got annoyed as he started bugging her with questions about the situation. “How is the security sweep going? They’ve checked underneath the stands? Do you have enough officers?” If anyone other than Tenzin had dared to question her capabilities in this way, she would have strangled them with their cables – but no matter her annoyance, she knew very well that he was only worried about the avatar’s safety. She couldn’t imagine how hard it was for him to train Korra. Then again, that had been Aang’s most fervent wish… No point in pitying Tenzin, she decided, he clearly took joy in instructing airbenders or he wouldn’t have produced a herd of his own. “Now leave me alone and let me do my job”, she sneered, expecting him to go away there and then. 

Instead, he stepped closer – there were just a few centimetres between them now and she could feel the heat of his body in the air and the thud of his heart through the floor. “Lin, with so much on the line, it would be nice if we could help each other out, at least for one night.” His voice was soft and kind and a little apologetic. It still stung, the idea that they would ever _not_ help each other out when, for so long, they had been each other’s rock. She felt herself soften and, without really thinking it through, looked up at him with a tiny smile. “Like old times?” “Like old times.” There was something shimmering in his eyes as he looked at her, something that made her own heartbeat quicken at the same time as she felt his pick up pace through the floor. She turned away quickly – she couldn’t allow herself even a moment of nostalgia. There was no point in getting hurt again. 

They were standing in the foremost part of the ranks, with a good view over the game and the entire arena. The referee had clearly been paid off – that was why she didn’t enjoy the games anymore these days, there was a distinct level of fairness missing that seemed to have been present back in the days. To her amusement, Tenzin followed the game closely, angrily shouting at the refs. He didn’t like pro-bending – in what felt like another time, they had sometimes gone to see the games together. More often than not, she’d listened on the radio at home whilst he had read a book, occasionally complaining about the ‘soullessness of the blood sport’. She felt a smirk on her face. “Wouldn’t have guessed you knew the rules of pro-bending”, she teased him. It was sweet, the way he was angry about Korra being cheated out of what was ultimately just a win in a silly game. The girl had apparently managed to win his heart. Lin decided that she had to give Korra another chance. If Tenzin, Aang’s son, was able to see past the complicatedness of the situation, then so should she. 

Lin smiled to herself as she remembered Aang secretly enjoying the pro-bending matches. It went against air nomad philosophy, but the avatar had been so full of joy, always ready for slightly risky adventures if there was fun to be had...Of course, he couldn’t fully withstand the excitement of a good game. She missed him, still, after all these years – his kindness and his lopsided grin and how he would sometimes leave dumplings for her at her desk if he knew she had a hard day ahead. “Cannot believe they managed to buy the referees”, Tenzin scoffed, visibly annoyed. “They always do, there’s so much money in the sport these days that it’s just not the same”, Lin shrugged, doing another routine visual sweep of the arena. Everything seemed perfectly calm. “It didn’t use to be this way! I remember, there were always different winners each year”, Tezin continued to complain. “You never watch pro-bending”, Lin replied mindlessly as she added a sensory check of the place, stomping her foot on the ground. “Okay, but I involuntarily listened pretty often.” The cheek in his answer made her turn. He was grinning at her, just joking around, relaxed, in the way he was with few people but had for a long time been with her – but quickly, his face fell, and he stared at the match again, tensing up. Lin suppressed a sigh. They seemed unable to sustain a normal conversation. 

Korra won a duel against the other team’s water bender. Lin was impressed by the way she immediately went for the other guy’s chin. That didn’t just require bending skills, that required _balls_. “I can’t believe your sweet-tempered father was reincarnated into that girl. She’s tough as nails”, she said, more to herself than to Tenzin. Korra needed to learn metal-bending, she decided – she show just the kind of attitude you needed for it. No wonder she seemed to struggle with all the aethereal bullshit that came with airbending. “Reminds me of someone else I knew at that age. You two might get along, if you only gave her a chance”, Tenzin said. She didn’t grant him the pleasure of an agreement but felt relief well up. He kept on talking to her, clearly trying to get over the awkwardness…this was the first conversation that hadn’t ended in either of them storming out since…since a long time. The way they had been ripped apart – _the way he had ripped them apart_ – had long been too painful for her to feel anything other than anger. Maybe, slowly, they were getting back to a point where Republic City didn’t feel too small for them both. She couldn’t let herself get too caught up in it though, they might be returning to a level of cordiality where they didn’t have to avoid each other every time they were forced to spend time in the same room…that didn’t mean that he deserved her forgiveness for what he had done. Absentmindedly, she realised the Fire Ferrets had lost the game. Tenzin was angrily gesturing, and she turned, watching him, considering if she could risk another joke. As he turned towards her, presumably to rant about the game, she saw his eyes widen in astonishment – his warning came too late as she felt pain all over her – _she was being electrocuted_. As her head hit the ground, she heard Tenzin screaming in pain. Every fibre of her body wanted to get up, to check on him, to secure that damned arena – but instead, she blacked out. 

She awoke later – how much later? – groaning as she got up. Everything hurt and for a second, she forgot where she was – then she saw Tenzin, sitting up gingerly and rubbing his head. “Tenzin!”, she rushed towards him, but he seemed no more in pain than she herself was. They had been electrocuted, Amon had to have figured out a way to give that ability to non-benders – Amon! Lin turned, to see him rise above the arena towards the air on a cable. Before she could act, explosions caused the ground beneath her to shudder, violently throwing her against Tenzin. For a split second, his arm was wrapped around her and her side was pressed into him as he shielded her with his body. She jumped away, startled more by the touch than by the detonations. Suddenly, she saw the avatar rise high on a wave, trying to reach the airship but failing. _There_ was her job, the job she was currently failing at because she was being distracted by her own idiocy…Lin took a deep breath and summoned her cables.

They landed on the floor, Lin on her feet – she always landed on her feet, _like a catowl_ , her mother had often said – Korra, tumbling over the floor. “You alright?”, she helped the girl to stand up. Her instinct had been right, Korra was brave, ready to take risks to protect others, fighting on top of the roof as if it was nothing. If there was one thing Lin liked in people, it was determination: and Korra had plenty of that. “I’m fine – thanks to you”, Korra said, seeming more than a little rattled. “Don’t mention it, kid”, Lin turned, looking at the hole in the roof of the arena. “Looks like we lost this one.” There would be repercussions to this loss – for her, personally, for the city, for the whole world…but in her many years in the force, she had learned that this was just that: one loss, one fight out of many, no matter how much it stung.  
The avatar’s friends ran towards her, hugging her. Lin couldn’t help but smile at the poetry of it, two siblings that, once again, seemed to have found the avatar just when she needed them most. Maybe Korra wasn’t that unlike her predecessor after all…  
Tenzin walked towards her. “I can’t believe Amon did this”, Lin swallowed – this _was_ a bitter loss. “I played right into his hands.” Tenzin touched her shoulder, gently, letting his hand rest there for just a moment as she turned to look him in the eyes. She could tell by the wrinkles on his forehead that he was worried. When he spoke, his voice was grave. “He played us all. Republic City is at war.”


End file.
